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My diploma is a DD214
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greydog; Thanks for your post, I always appreciate hearing from folks like you who have been in the business and have a better handle on such topics than I do.
To the OP I could only say that in my formative years through my family connections I met many Native hunter/trappers as well as farmer/trappers who lived on the edge of what was called "the bush" in the prairie provinces.
The most common firearm I can recall was the Canadian made Cooey bolt action single shot .22 rifle - most of them likely not having ever been cleaned any more than was needed to make them fire when asked.
After that the two most seen center fire rifles were Winchester 94's - mostly .30-30, but a surprisingly large number of .32 Specials too and SMLE's of one variant or another but usually the older Mk III.
Again if they'd been cleaned since the war I couldn't tell but they went bang often enough to keep the owner's family in meat - usually moose or deer but sometimes black bear too.
Funny though I can't recall seeing a whole lot of Marlins there for whatever reason - maybe because John Wayne carried a Winchester?
Anyway that's just one prairie kid's memories of seeing working guns back in the late '60's for whatever it might be worth.
All the best to you and yours again greydog.
Dwayne
Last edited by BC30cal; 11/23/14.
The most important stuff in life isn't "stuff"
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Given a reliable design and properly constructed rifle (there are clunkers in both categories)and kept clean and used with proper ammunition, I think it's pretty close. I came late to the bolt game, grew up around the Savage, Winchester, and Marlin levers. All my older relatives had them and I used levers too. But I've been a bolt shooter now for about 15 years, and would have to say that in the case of a cartridge that is insufficiently sized or dirty, or a rifle that got dumped in the dirt or mud, the bolt gun wins, assuming it has an easily field-stripped bolt. Unless it was the hunt of a lifetime, away from civilization, though, I wouldn't be afraid to take an old Savage 99 and go on a hunt. And I remember reading either Dave Scovill or Brian Pearce about the old sheepherder who occasionally poured diesel fuel from the ranch tank through his M 94 and kept on shooting.
Last edited by 300_savage; 11/23/14.
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I have owned a couple of Marlins, and still own one which I inherited about 30-odd years ago. They do seem very reliable with factory loads or decent handloads, but I think they are less tolerant than a typical bolt-action of ammunition that is not quite right - overlength, for example, or not crimped.
They also don't have such ease of access to clear a problem as a good bolt does.
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I've experienced 3 jams in several years of hunting. Two were extractor related in a bolt rifle, and one was a jam that can be attributed to the bullet, and this was in a lever.
According to my experience, I'd say the lever is more reliable.
But, I'd still bet on the bolt action.
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Some bolts are more reliable than the Marlin, some are less.
Stupid question without specifics.........
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That's like asking which can haul more groceries- a Chevy or a Ford?
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How long is a piece of string? Is it faster to Texas north or by bus?
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